Recently, I read an article by Barbara Ehrenreich about “Cultural Baggage.” It is a term about people who always bring their own cultures everywhere they go, no matter which places they are. However, after reading this article, I realize that there are a lot of people who don’t want to inherit their cultural backgrounds, including cuisine or costumes. They want to learn and experience new things, instead of looking back to the past and try to do the things that their ancestors did more than two thousand years ago. These people call themselves “race of none”. They don’t have any race or ethnicity. They think they are simply normal people, without definitions about cultures and race.
These people make me think a lot about the meaningfulness of cultural roles in modern society. Technologies and globalization make this world become easier to contact and be open-minded about other cultures. People tend to explore to understand more cultural backgrounds besides their own. And they are happy about that, it means we can shorten the distance between one culture and others, to live in peace and no prejudice.
Everything will be very good if individuals don’t try to ignore their cultures. In fact, people do. They may think that no culture means no barrier and more tolerance towards other people. They feel tired when someone asks them about their ethnicity. They feel out of style whenever they must wear their traditional costumes in cultural events. They just want to eat popular food instead of their traditional meals. And they choose to not to follow the cultural rules from cuisine to fashion styles or table manners. Therefore, “race of none” is their new definition about cultural identity. They don’t need to worry about the cultural influences on their life in the future, and they are pleasant for that.
I am the person who is very proud about my own culture and always wants to find the original meanings of culture, quite shocked when I see that people try to ignore their traditions. However, I have to admit that their thoughts are right.
“Race of none” lets us have a more comfortable life than we can expect. No norm, no religion, no belief, no value. People are totally free with their own life instead of caring about other stuff. “Race of none” let us not to judge someone immediately because of their cultural backgrounds or religions. “Race of none” makes us more open-minded and aware of others’ personalities than ethnics. In overall, “race of none” provides no barrier in communicating to people.
But it has something that we need to consider. Traditions and cultures are complicated, but they bring us a sense of belonging. Having traditions means having something to memorize and be proud of. And whenever it has cultural events, we know we have a place to go and reunite with our family as well as friends. Cultures let us know what we should and shouldn’t do, besides the common moral rules of the human world. Cultures provide us something to believe and value, to cherish and say “thank you” for the contributions someone has made. Moreover, cultures make us unique. Although many cultural backgrounds may have something in common, they are different from each other. Therefore, when we belong to one culture, we won’t be similar to other people. We have our own religion, race, ethnic, cuisine and social structures. Modern life is seeking unique things, so why do you want to lose your uniqueness when you already have that in your blood?
I am Vietnamese, and I will not know who I am if I don’t go to the pagoda and eat Chung cake on the first three days of Lunar New Year. I will not know how unique and special I am when I don’t wear my traditional costumes, which will make people love at first sight. I don’t know who I am if I don’t eat Vietnamese food but eat hamburgers and pizza instead. I will be confused if I don’t pray for Buddha whenever I meet the obstacles. With me, culture is a part of my identity, and my pride when I study abroad in the US, the country with an intercultural background.
Culture makes me unique, so I have no reason to ignore it, although it has so many taboos that I cannot understand. Of course people who ignore their cultures are not wrong in some aspects, but you should consider by yourself the meaning of cultures in your life, before you decide if you really want to abandon your cultural background or not.